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This Instant Pot Squid Stew is so tasty and it’s amazing how tender the squid goes! I’m posting it quickly for Dejanka to have and will make it prettier later on. Serve it on its own, with plain rice, with pasta or with quinoa like Alli did below. If you want a quick method to cook quinoa in your Instant Pot (the best quinoa), just ask.

I have the huge luck of having a child who eats well and, despite asking for pasta all the time, is open to trying new things and this Instant Pot Thai Pork Larb Recipe (Thai Minced Pork) is one of her favourites….

I’ve been hankering for pulled pork for weeks, today I managed to finally satisfy that craving! This Instant Pot Pulled Pork with Creamy Paprika Sauce was so tender. After removing the pork to shred, I blended some of the juices left in the pot with cashews and more paprika (thank you Quirky Cooking for the inspiration!) and I ended with the creamiest sauce to go (rather well) with my pulled pork. I am typing this today as I had a few requests in my Pressure Cooking UK with Feisty Tapas Facebook group but also because, if my hands are not busy, I’ll end up eating all the pulled pork myself.

Make it without the sauce for a great LOW CARB dish or, of course, only have a tiny bit of the sauce which is quite filling.

You may have already gathered from my last two recipes that I am a big fan of soup. Yes, I admit it, I love soup. When you can pressure cook your own Chicken broth or stock at home in no time and without filling the house with its smell, it becomes a weekly staple and, once you have that stock or broth (whatever you prefer to call it) in the fridge, it’s so versatile!…

I love meat loaf and it turns out that so does the little Tapita! It’s delicious hot or cold so really convenient. Perfect for picnics for that imminent spring weather that is round the corner. This Instant Pot Meat Loaf is delicious!…

“Chicken stock with a whole chicken, shock horror!”, I can hear the purists scream from here! Well, yes. When you’re a working parent trying to keep your head above water you do not mind this type of thing that much and the stock is super tasty so, if I’m going to keep my head above water, it might as well be delicious chicken stock (or broth as some like to call it), in my Instant Pot of course!…

Ox cheeks are a cut best braised (first fried and then slow cooked for hours) or fantastic pressure cooked, so easy in the Instant Pot. The meat becomes melt-in-the-mouth tender.

You will find ox cheeks in your local good butcher, Waitrose also has them.

This was my first try with ox cheeks and I have to say: do not try to slice or dice them (it’s mission impossible). Leave them whole. They are very sinewy raw but that all disintegrates when pressure cooking, leaving you with fork-tender meat.

A tip: porcini and, in general, dried mushrooms can be quite expensive. I got mine from Grape Tree in town. I think a 40 g bag was £1. If you have one nearby it’s worth going in for the raw cashews and the big buckets of herbs and spices, which tend to be 3 for 2.

You know I love chorizo, right? I also love using up ingredients, a bit of thriftiness and not throwing much away. A crustless quiche such as this one is quick to make, can use up a lot of what you may have in the fridge and is very versatile as you can add the ingredients you fancy. If, like this Cheesy Chorizo Crustless Quiche, you make it in a cake tin, it will look beautiful when you have guests or you need to take something to someone’s house but don’t have much time in your hands. It even allows you to get ready while it’s in the oven and it will cool down on the way to theirs.

The Thermomix makes this Cheesy Chorizo Crustless Quiche a breeze. If you have a chopper it will also take no time. I have included conventional instructions for those of you who don’t have a Thermomix.

It’s especially delicious with a cup of coffee for a savoury breakfast. It will make a beautiful starter or even canapé if you cut it into large squares and use cocktail sticks to serve them neatly on a plate, you can even call it Tapas.

Don’t forget you can find all my Thermomix recipes here and, if you’re in the UK, my Thermo Cooking UK with Feisty Tapas Facebook group is here.

Could you cook this in the Instant Pot? I bet you could. I’d probably give it about 25 to 30 minutes on the trivet with natural release. Shall we try it soon?

1. Preheat the oven to 200º C / 190ºC in a fan oven / gas mark 6. Line the cake tin with the baking paper

2. Chop the cheddar: 8 seconds, speed 7. Reserve.

3. Add to the bowl: onion, courgette + carrots with a pinch of salt and a couple of twists of pepper: 5 seconds, speed 5. Reserve in a different bowl to the cheese.

4. Do not wash the bowl, crack the eggs into a bowl (not directly into the Thermie bowl just in case bits of shell fall in) then add to the Thermomix bowl: 10 seconds, speed 5.

5. Add the flour, baking powder and more or less half of the reserved cheese: 10 seconds, speed 3.

6. Slice the chorizo lengthways to get four strips and then slice into small pieces and add to the Thermomix bowl along with the reserved vegetables and the olive oil: 10 seconds, speed 3.

7. Pour the mixture into the lined 20 cm cake tin, tap it a few times for it to spread evenly, sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top and place in the centre of the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Like with a cake, if a skewer comes out clean after piercing the centre, it’s done. Let it cool down a bit. You can eat it hold or cold and will keep for 2-3 days. It will slice better if you leave it to stand for a while.

Conventional method

1. Grate the cheddar. Reserve.

2. Finely chop the onion, courgette + carrots and season a pinch of salt and a couple of twists of the black pepper mill. Don’t chop the veg too small if you want a bit of crunch. Reserve in a bowl.

3. Slice the chorizo lengthways to get four strips, then slice into small pieces, reserve in the bowl with the vegetables.

4. Beat the eggs and mix in the flour, baking powder and more or less half of the reserved cheese.

5. Add the chopped vegetables and the chorizo to the egg mix and mix in well, stir in the olive oil.

6. Pour the mixture into the lined 20 cm cake tin, tap it a few times for it to spread evenly, sprinkle the rest of the cheese and place in the centre of the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Like with a cake, if a skewer comes out clean after piercing the centre, it’s done. Let it cool down a bit. You can eat it hold or cold and will keep for 2-3 days. It will slice better if you leave it to stand for a while.

As usual, if anything doesn’t make sense, you know where to find me!

Maria

**This post may contain affiliate links. That means that, while you don’t pay a penny extra, I may get a few pennies back towards running the blog and the Feisty Tapas communities. Thanks for supporting Feisty Tapas**

I love soup. During the winter I could easily survive on soup alone! This Instant Pot Ham and Cabbage Soup is particularly delicious and warming (and man it’s cold outside as I write this, our street was covered in ice this morning!).

I absolutely adore Baked Camembert and all its calories but I begrudge having to preheat the oven for it (and mainly having to wait for it to preheat), in comes the Instant Pot’s pressure cooking function. If you’re a member of my Pressure Cooking UK with Feisty Tapas, you’ll have noticed that my lunches are usually a last-minute from-the-freezer affair so this is a real treat (and yes, of course, “you” can eat it all on your own or, you know, you could share with friends with a nice bottle of wine or bubbly…).

It’s Christmas Eve Eve as I write this, not long until 2016 ends so time to get together with friends and eat party food!

Ready?

Instant Pot “Baked Camembert”

Ingredients

– 1 camembert, not all of them work great, Le Rustique certainly does though. Aldi’s does too.

– 250 ml cold water

Equipment

– Parchment Paper

– Instant Pot

– Trivet

Method (video also linked above)

1. Wrap a camembert cheese in parchment paper or place in a Camembert Baker. Place 250 ml water in the inner pot, put the trivet in place with the camembert parcel on top.

2. Press Manual/Pressure Cook, use the – and + buttons to programme 10 minutes, wait 10 minutes after it finishes cooking (there was no steam left to release). 12 minutes with 12 minutes NPR if using a Camembert baker as the heat will need to get through. If using a baker feel free to add flavours (see note below).

3. Unwrap. Wipe any extra moisture with kitchen paper and transfer to a plate.

4. Cut a cross on it for access and dip your favourite bread (how much am I wishing right now I’d had better bread at home!).

Note

If you want to add some flavour before “baking” your camembert in your Instant Pot, use a Camembert Baker instead of the parchment paper. Amazon has a good selection of camembert bakers here. I bought mine from TKMaxx. Timing wise: you will need to add cooking time if you use a Camembert Baker due to the fact that they are thick and heat will take longer to get through than it does with the parchment paper, so I do 12 minutes on Manual/Pressure Cook and then wait 12 minutes to get it out.

What flavours could you add if using a Camembert Baker? I personally like cutting a cross and adding garlic, white wine and rosemary.

Did you know there’s such a thing as a National Chocolate Week? There is, and it’s right now. Not that I need an excuse to celebrate or eat chocolate any day of the year! In this household the chocolate we buy regularly is Lind’ts 85%. That’s dark, very dark. But the little Tapita absolutely loves it. The other day I had the chocolate next to the beef I was buying in my basket at the supermarket and I thought to myself: “well, husband does add cocoa to his chilli, doesn’t he?”.

This Chocolatey Beef Stew makes a luscious sauce, enjoy with a nice glass of red wine if you can. Or a beer. Can you tell I am still off the alcohol due to my meds? At least I can eat chocolate, in everything it would appear.

I made this in my Instant Pot, you can make it in your stove-top pressure cooker if you have one. I like the Instant Pot because I don’t have to babysit it, I just leave it to it and I get on with life (or with putting my feet up). You will find all my Instant Pot recipes here and, if you’re a newbie, you will find my guide to get started here.

Note: if you have a Thermomix just stick in the bowl the onion, garlic and celery and chop on speed 5 for 5 seconds.

Method

1. Press Sauté, add a dash of the oil of your choice, and fry the chopped onion, garlic and celery.

2. Add the beef and, if you have time, brown it using the Sauté button (if you do brown it, make sure you deglaze by adding a bit of red wine or stock and scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon at the end). Add the rest of the ingredients, stir. Lock the lid in. Steam release handle pointing to Sealing. Press Manual and programme 25 minutes, do a natural release at the end (the natural release is important).

3. If you would like to thicken the sauce, press Keep Warm/Cancel then press Sauté, then Adjust to set it to More and let it bubble with the lid off so that it reduces, stay near your pot as it happens quickly.

Pressure cooking a gammon joint or ham in your Instant Pot is easy and so tasty. Of course, you can also apply this method to bacon joints and ham hocks.

First of all, you might be wondering what is the difference between gammon and ham? It’s as easy as gammon is ham in its raw state. Once gammon is cooked or cured, it is called ham. So, in order to have ham, you need gammon.

There are several methods to pressure cook your gammon to turn it into ham. Catherine Phipps’ rule of thumb is to allow 10 minutes at high pressure per 500g for a sliceable ham, as the Instant Pot works at a lower psi, add a few minutes minutes to the time, making it more like 11 minutes per 500g, if you want to be on the safe side increase it to 15 (Marie, regular of the Feisty Tapas communities, reckons 15 minutes per lb, one lb is about 453 g). If you want a shreddable ham, increase the time even more.

There’s now a lot of talk about 8 minutes per 500 g which doesn’t work too well with huge joints, my almost-3-kg Christmas gammon wasn’t fully cooked through at 8 minutes per 500 g so I had to give it a bit longer. It works great for smaller joints though, this week I tried it with a 1.3 kg joint from Aldi. I’m leaving this here as feedback, if you ever think your gammon is not as juicy as it should be. However, I will be sticking to longer cooking times than 8 minutes per 500 g personally.

I cook my 700 g gammon joints for 18 minutes. I know this is longer than
the times stated above but it works for me every time as I tend to buy
the same size joint. You can do more than one joint at the same time, I
tend to do three 700 g joints in 18 minutes (mainly because Ocado tends
to have 700 g gammon joints on offer). Increase the time for bigger
joints.

If you haven’t got Catherine Phipps’ book, The Pressure Cooker Book, it really is worth buying. All recipes have familiar ingredients and measurements for UK Instant Pot users.

The beauty of the Instant Pot is that you can leave it unattended, no need to babysit it and, do not fret, there is no rattling and no hissing. It’s silent. It’s sturdy. It’s very safe.

I tend to use unsmoked gammon joints. If yours is smoked, you can soak it but it might not be necessary. One way to tell if a smoked gammon needs soaking is by cutting a small bit off and quickly frying it until cooked, then tasting it, if it’s not too salty, no need to soak. If it’s only slightly salty, you can just boil it in fresh water, discard that water. Otherwise soak it.

Who fancies Ham, Egg and Chips then? As long as you don’t forget that having cooked ham in your fridge is handy for adding to risottos, pasta sauces, pizzas or even just to snack on!

My two main methods to pressure cook a gammon joint or ham in your Instant Pot are:

How to pressure cook a gammon joint/ham in the Instant Pot

Method 1. On the trivet

Add 250 ml of water to the base of the inner pot, place trivet and then the ham on top. Lock the lid in, steam release handle pointing to Sealing. Press the Manual button and use the – and + buttons to the right time bearing in mind the rule of 11 minutes per 500 g of gammon joint, followed by a natural release (i.e. do nothing until the float valve pops back down). You can replace some of the water with cider, beer, wine, juice… You can save the liquid for adding to tasty risottos and soups.

2. No trivet and tons of tasty stock for other uses

Place gammon joint in inner pot (no trivet), add a peeled onion, 3-4 garlic cloves (unpeeled, whacked with the fist), 4-5 black peppercorns (really nice with the Szechuan ones as well), one bay leaf, one carrot and any veggies you may have going off. Cover with water, always being mindful of the three quarter mark as you’re going to use the pressure cooking function (only ever fill a pressure cooker, conventional or electric, three quarters maximum). Lock in the lid. Steam release handle pointing to Sealing. Press the Manual button, adjust to the right time based on 11 minutes per 500 g, natural release. As above, increase the time for bigger joints but for this method I also do 2-3 x 700 g gammon joints for 18 minutes with natural release.

My Ham and Cabbage Soup is a delicious way of using up the ham stock. Check back soon as I’ll be posting more uses for the yummy ham stock you’ll have left.

Tip: If you want to glaze the ham. Coat it in the glaze of your choice and pop it into a hot oven for about 10 minutes. You can also spread the coating of your choice all over it and let it stand without popping it in the oven. One of my favourite glazes to use is this chilli jam (as recommended by Lucy, who also gave me a jar last year, I need more Lucy!).

Yes, I still love my Instant Pot, I now have both the DUO 7 in 1 and the LUX 6 in 1.
The Instant Pot is a modern day electric pressure cooker that also slow
cooks, steams, cooks rice, the DUO 7 in 1 even makes yoghurt. My
favourite function of them all though is the automatic Keep Warm product
that kicks in at the end of the pressure cooking and slow cooking
cycles.

I am a big fan of serrano ham, it’s right up there with chorizo (chorizo being the clear winner as you may have gathered from previous recipes). In particular I love serrano ham with very garlicky mushrooms (recipe here). So this Chicken, Serrano Ham, Mushroom Stew was bound to happen sooner or later.

I own an electric pressure cooker (which also slow cooks, etc.), mine is an Instant Pot and I love it for the convenience of being able to walk away from it, it means I can programme it and walk away from it without having to hang around for it to hiss and then set a timer (so, if you’re making this in a stove-top pressure cooker, all you need to do is hang around and programme the time, which should be the same). All my Instant Pot and pressure cooking recipes are right here.

If you’re making it the conventional way or on a slow cooker, just follow the first sauteing/frying steps and let it run for a few hours in your slow cooker.

Serve this with mashed potatoes, cauliflower rice, cauliflower mash, vegetables, whatever takes your fancy but don’t forget a good slice of crusty bread to dip in that lovely sauce.

– 1 teaspoon chicken stock paste or half a chicken stock cube (or of course you could use my Vegetable Stock Paste which is full of flavour)

– A couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes

– Salt and pepper

Instant Pot method:

1. Press the Sauté button, add the oil and, when it starts feeling a bit hot, add the diced serrano ham and fry it for a few minutes until it starts getting a bit golden, stir a few times.

2. Season the diced chicken with salt and pepper and add it to the inner pot to brown, stirring regularly and making sure it doesn’t catch at the bottom. If it does catch easily, you can turn the Sauté heat back down by pressing Keep Warm / Cancel followed by the Sauté button and then, immediately, the Adjust button twice to set the IP to Less (if you have v3 of the DUO / you received your DUO from June 2018, just keep pressing Sauté until the light under less is lit up).

3. Add the chopped onion and garlic (in Thermomix 5 seconds on speed 5) and stir well, let it sweat for a little while and then add the mushrooms, stir. Add the white wine and chicken stock. Scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon to deglaze the pot, make sure you get rid of any caramelised bits. Let it bubble a minute or so with the lid off for the wine to reduce a bit and not taste so strong later. Add the tomatoes, no need to stir. Lock the lid in, steam release handle pointing to Sealing, press Poultry and use the – and + buttons to programme 5 minutes, natural release.

At the end you can reduce the sauce using the Sauté setting of your Instant Pot, with the lid off. Add flour, arrowroot or gravy granules if you prefer to thicken the sauce but I don’t.

Conventional cooking (on the hob)

1. Heat oil in a heavy and wide-bottomed pot/cast iron casserole, slow cooker, whatever you have to hand. Fry the diced serrano ham over a medium-high heat until it starts getting a bit goldeny, stir a few times.

2. Season the diced chicken with salt and pepper, add it to the pot and stir well. Let it brown all over.

3.
Turn the heat down a notch and add
the chopped garlic and onion (in Thermomix 5 seconds on speed 5) and
stir well, let it sweat for a little while and then add the mushrooms,
stir. Add the white wine and chicken stock and let it bubble for a few minutes, then add the
tomatoes and let it cook on a low-medium heat until the chicken is not only cooked through but also tender.

There’s been a lot of talk about how to cook a whole chicken lately in the Instant Pot® UK Community, a lot of brainstorming over whether the chicken should be breast down so that it’s more moist. So I wanted to give it a go. I also didn’t brown my chicken on Sauté this time (you can do this with some oil by pressing Sauté and then the Adjust button to set the Instant Pot to More).

The very succulent meat was used for several meals. First served with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. Then used in stir fries and even in sandwiches! You can pressure cook a lovely bone broth / chicken stock with the carcass once you’ve taken all the meat off or you could freeze it until you have more bones to add (and then pressure cook bone broth from frozen). Chicken goes a long way in the Tapas household and I bet it does in yours too!

Also, the liquid that is left is especially good to freeze in cubes and use to flavour stews, casseroles, even all-in-one pasta dishes.

Ready for the recipe?

Instant Pot Lemony Whole Chicken

Ingredients

– 1 whole chicken (you can fit up to a 2.5 kg bird in the Instant Pot, that was the weight of mine this time)

– 250 ml vegetable stock (I make my own stock in the Instant Pot or the Thermomix, find the recipe here). You can add it cold but I added it hot, it means that the pot will reach pressure faster

– Salt, a good pinch

– Black pepper, a few twists of the pepper mill

Method

1. Zest the lemon and the lime. Reserve.

2. Juice the lemon and the lime. Reserve.

3. With a sharp knife, stab what you have left of the lemon and the lime, through the skin. Insert the lemon and lime inside the chicken cavity.

4. Place the onion and the carrot in the pot to create a bed for the chicken.

5. Add the garlic cloves, the teaspoon of turmeric, the tablespoon of mixed
herbs, the 250 ml of stock (hot), the salt and the black pepper.

6. Place the chicken on top, breast side down. Pour the reserved lemon zest and juice on the bird. Add a pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Press Manual, leave at 30 minutes for a bigger bird, you can do 25 minutes for a smaller bird. Natural release. In a conventional stove-top pressure cooker bring the pressure cooker to high pressure and cook for about 25-30 minutes (the psi is higher), turn off the heat and do a natural release.

Note: There are a lot of lovely juices at the end, I blended some of it with the vegetables for a lovely smooth thick sauce but also kept some of the juices for a thinner sauce. Probably used half for each thing. Lovely moist chicken.

Enjoy! And don’t forget to let me know how you get on!

If you haven’t got an Instant Pot yet, it’s only the most amazing bit of kitchen equipment! It can pressure cook, slow cook, keeps your food warm at the end, steams and the DUO even makes yoghurt! The list of what it can do is very long and it includes cheesecake! And, as Instant Pot UK‘s social media girl, I’m here (and there) to help you make the most of it.

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**This post contains affiliate links, it doesn’t cost you any extra but I get a little kickback**

Some days you just need to use up something in the fridge because you hate waste but your energy levels are really low and all you can think of is putting your feet up. Well, this is exactly how this Pressure Cooker Beef with Mexican Spices recipe came about for my Instant Pot and this is also why it’s so easy!

Basically a case of throwing ingredients in your pressure cooker or Instant Pot and letting it do its thing….

Escaldums is a dish typical of Majorca, Balearic Islands, Spain. It is traditionally made with poultry and, as is common with regional food, it has endless variations depending on who you ask, some people add pine nuts, some almonds, some prunes or sultanas and many marjoram so feel free to use this as a base for your own creation and then come to tell me what you did with it and if it worked well.

I love this one (with turkey, almond and tomatoes) for its simplicity. You could serve it with vegetables, boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes or rice but a steaming bowl with a nice slice of crusty bread does it for me.

You could of course prepare this in your slow cooker, or on the hob (I include instructions for the latter), just make sure you let it cook until the turkey is very very tender. What I loved about the pressure cooked version is that the turkey wasn’t at all rubbery, win!

Below I provide the Instant Pot instructions as that is my pressure cooker (do not miss the awesome Feisty Tapas Instant Pot offer running until 30th November 2015, you will save a ton of money, more details here). The biggest difference between an Instant Pot and a conventional stove-top pressure cooker is that you don’t have to wait around for it to start hissing so that you know it’s got to pressure, then set the timer on your phone or kitchen, then run to it when the timer goes off if it needs quick release. In fact the Instant Pot doesn’t hiss. You programme the Instant Pot, walk away, it gets to pressure on its own, starts the countdown of the programmed time on its own and, at the end, it goes automatically to the Keep Warm function and your meal is ready when you are ready to eat it.

If you want to make this dish in a conventional pressure cooker, just hang around until you hear the hissing when it comes to the pressure cooking stage and do what you usually do on your pressure cooker for the number of minutes stated. Simples.

1. Press the Sauté button, use the Adjust button to set it to High, add the olive oil and brown the turkey until golden. Reserve.

2. Press the Cancel button and then the Sauté button to sweat the chopped onion and garlic (I do 5 seconds on speed 5 in Thermie) for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly.

3. Add the 125 ml dry white wine, 125 ml chicken stock, 3 chopped vine-ripened tomatoes, 40 g almonds, 1 bay leaf, salt and black pepper, stir well and sauté for a couple of minutes then blend to achieve a coarse sauce, you want it to have a bit of bite (3 seconds, speed 7 in Thermie). Obviously if you prefer a smooth sauce go for it but, with the almonds, it’s nice to go for a bit of bite. If you don’t have a blender, never mind, the sauce will be nice anyway.

4. Add the sauce and the reserved turkey back to the pot, press the Poultry button: 15 minutes, natural release.

Serve with a nice chunk of bread to dip in the sauce.On the hob

1. In a large frying pan, casserole, cast iron dish or whatever you have really, let’s not get fussy: heat the olive oil on a high heat and brown the turkey until golden. Reserve.

2. Reduce the heat and add the onion and garlic and sweat for a few minutes until golden, stirring regularly.

3. Add the 125 ml dry white wine, 125 ml chicken stock, 3 chopped vine-ripened tomatoes, 40 g almonds, 1 bay leaf, salt and black pepper, stir well and sauté for a few minutes then blend to achieve a coarse sauce, you want it to have a bit of bite (3 seconds, speed 7 in Thermie). Obviously if you prefer a smooth sauce go for it but, with the almonds, it’s nice to go for a bit of bite.

4. Add the sauce and the reserved turkey back to the pot, reduce the heat and let it simmer until the turkey is very tender (this may take anywhere between 30 and 50 minutes), do keep checking.

This Little gem lettuce with anchovies recipe is so easy that I shouldn’t even call it a recipe, if you look a the recipe I posted just before this one, it’s brilliant to serve as a side dish or as a tapas dish, try them with Chorizo and hummus pita pockets so that you have my special ingredient below ready made.

You can increase the number of lettuces and tins of anchovies as much as you want, making it fabulous for a party or when you have lots of people round and want to make something easy.

Little gem lettuce with anchovies

– 1 little gem lettuce, leaves separated, washed well and dried with a clean towel or in the salad spinner
– 1 tin of anchovies
– The juices of cooked chorizo (see the Chorizo and hummus pita pockets recipe for cooking instructions)

Distribute the clean lettuce leaves on a pretty (or practical) plate, place one or two anchovies on top of each one, drizzle with a bit of the oil left in the tin and then drizzle with the juices left in the frying pan after cooking the chorizo.

This crustless quiche is a new version of the Cheesy Crustless Pie that I had adapted a while ago. I was keen to reduce the amount of olive oil and flour used, 100 g olive oil seemed excessive and the result is a spongier slice crammed with vegetables.

In fact, when it comes to the vegetables, I have started reducing the amount of red pepper and adding carrot, I actually think it could take more carrot and possibly tomatoes.

It’s ideal for lunch boxes, sandwiches, parties and to have al fresco with a lovely salad. I particularly like it as a snack with a cup of coffee, elevenses anyone?

I don’t have a quiche tin to try it in so, if you do, do try it and come back to let me know how you get on please. Next time I may make individual portions in the muffin tin to see how they turn out.

By the way, if you still don’t know what a Thermomix is (despite me banging on about it rather regularly), this post
will tell you all about it. If you live in the UK and you already have a
Thermomix or are considering buying one, I run the wonderful and very friendly Thermo Cooking UK with Feisty Tapas Facebook group. Come join the Thermie chat and, while at it, find me on Instagram (I do go on about Thermie a lot on there but also share other snippets of daily life).

Crustless quiche in the Thermomix

Ingredients

Serves: 6 with a good salad or just use it as snacks, breakfast with a coffee, elevenses (I particularly like the latter with a cup of coffee)

100 g cheddar

15 g cooked ham (yes, I may try it with chorizo one day), you can use any amount up to 150 g really, this time I was very short on ham (try cooking your own ham at home, it’s really easy, with my cranberry ham and cider ham recipes)

Cover a baking tray with parchment/baking paper. Pour the mixture,
ensuring the thickness is even, it’s easy if you just spread it with a
spatula. Sprinkle the rest of the cheddar and place in the centre of thepreheated oven for 25-30 minutes.

You will find all my Thermomix recipes here and don’t forget I want to know what features you think could make the next version of the Thermomix even better, just go here to read my own wishlist and add yours.

This week I have made one mistake after the other in the kitchen, for some reason they have turned out well. Today wasn’t an exception, my plan was to make chicken nuggets quickly for T’s dinner. I was mixing this recipe from La encimera de Gema with a recipe from the Australian Recipe Community that was recommended by someone (perhaps it was you?).

The result was a few small chicken patties that LittleT gulped down so next time I will make sure I add some more vegetables!

Chicken burgers or meatballs with the Thermomix

Ingredients (it made approx. 12 patties, a mixture of small and medium)

– 1 carrot
– 40 g milk
– Parsley to taste (i.e. depending on how much you like it or not you can use more or less, or why not try coriander?)
– 1 clove of garlic
– 30-35 g baguette chunk (or 1 slice of bread loaf)

3. You are ready to turn them into meatballs, patties or burgers. Grab a bit of the mix with your hans and roll into meatballs. If you want patties or burgers, flatten them down with your hand. You can make the patties as big or as small as you want, I make mostly mini patties and some medium ones so that they would cook faster.

4a. To fry: Heat olive oil (or oil of your choice) in a large frying pan, turn over a couple of times, make sure they are cooked through.

4b. Varoma: 1 litre of water in the bowl and the meatballs, patties or burgers in the Varoma. Varoma temperature, speed 2 and start with 25 minutes, check they’re cooked through.

4c. To pressure cook / steam in your Instant Pot: add 250 ml to the inner pot. Place the meatballs, patties or burgers in a steamer basket. Lock the lid in. Steam release handle pointing to Sealing. Press Manual, high pressure, set to 5 minutes if they’re not too big, increase time if quite big. Do a few minutes natural release, about 5 and check if they’re done. Add a few more minutes if not. They turn out very juicy in the Instant Pot and you don’t have to babysit them.

Serve with Spanish flair! And a lovely fresh salad. If you make mini patties like I did you could serve them with dips (I bet a yoghurty one would go really well). Otherwise why not make a few burgers.